


Erased

by AzuraJae



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Modern Era, Slice of Life, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-13 05:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7963891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzuraJae/pseuds/AzuraJae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When it’s time for to two souls to meet, there’s nothing on earth that keep them away. The simple story of the erased memories, a fateful encounter, at a simple bus stop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Repeat

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing this particular fic for a LONG time; I had the idea for over a month, but it took a couple weeks to get it done. In fact, I waited until I completed the fic to actually start posting it. So even as I am posting this, everything is already written, I just need to upload it.
> 
> This story isn't based off an AU of an existing story, I just suddenly thought of it in my head while I was thinking about ShiroKeith. It was super hard trying to develop it at first because I had nothing to base it off on, but I grew addicted to hearing NateWantsToBattle's English Cover of Erased's OP, Re: Re: and after that it all came together. That's where the title of this fic comes from, but it is NOT an AU of the anime Erased (I have yet to watch it). 
> 
> Big thanks to my Betas who stuck with me through the forty-two page Google Doc and actually sat down and read the whole thing. They are Candy (kumihomiko), Pix (pixothepixel), and Alphie (AlphaToronado).  
> Please check these lovely people on tumblr!

                                                                                        

* * *

 

Shiro carefully trimmed the dead leaves off the bright purple flower with his tiny pair of specialized garden shears, making sure that he didn’t accidentally snip off any of the green branches. After all, Altean flowers are unusually fussy and if not pampered properly, will refuse to bloom. The man gently removed the last dead leaf and took a step back to admire his handiwork.

He had been taking care of this particular flower for almost two months now. This rare beauty of a flower could only bloom when the first few flakes of snow came from above. No one could understand the strange phenomenon, but it was apparently so.

“They’re doing beautifully, Shiro.” Allura said, walking by with a empty pot in her hand. “They’ll make beautiful bouquets when they bloom.”

Shiro smiled in response. “They’ve been doing their best.”

“Coran!” A voice from the other side of the shop shouted. “Where is the turtle food?”

“They’re in where they always are, Lance!” Coran shouted back, who was in the front of the shop. He was currently taking in the flowers on display back in.

“I can’t find them!” A tall and lanky teenager stumbled into the room, nearly tripping over a hose on the ground. It was Lance.

“Well, you better find them quick.” said Pidge, who emerged from the storage room, holding more empty pots. “I can hear Zarkon snapping from here.”

Shiro looked to where Zarkon’s , the shop’s resident snapping turtle, tank was. He squinted for a moment, before realizing the dark object hidden by the tank’s shadow was the turtle food pellets.

“They’re right next to the tank, Lance.” informed Shiro, pointing at the container effectively hidden by the shadows.

“Oh, sorry.” A new voiced added in from upstairs. “I must have forgotten to put it back.”

“Don’t forget next time, Hunk!” Lance called up, somewhat irritably. He lumbered over and took the container, dropping a few pellets of food in before closing it and taking it to the back.

Zarkon had been Allura’s father’s pet turtle before he passed away. Allura had been housing the turtle ever since in the store. Neighborhood kids loved to dare each other to stick their fingers in the deepest without being bitten, much to the dismay of Coran.

“Coran, how many more pots are still outside?” Allura called from where she was standing, startling Shiro. He had almost forgotten she was next to him.

“Only a couple more.” Coran answered.

“Good.” Allura responded, before turning Shiro. “Shiro, you can leave for today. The part-timers can finish up what you started.”

Shiro brushed his muddy hands on top of his garden apron. “But I can still -”

“No buts.” She said, nearly tearing the apron off him. “You live farther away from the store than all of us. You have to catch the last bus to your place before it leaves.”

“Don’t worry, Shiro.” Pidge added from where she was storing tools in the storage room. “I’ll make sure Lance and Hunk do their part. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to get to the bus stop early.”

Without a moment to lose, Allura chased him out of the shop. Even though Shiro was somewhat disheartened over this, he knew that he often liked to work overtime at the shop, which Allura didn’t mind except that he lived almost thirty minutes by bus which is over an hour on foot. Even though he had only been working at the shop for only about four months, Shiro had missed the last bus almost four times each month and had to resort to Allura taking him home by car or using a taxi. He could see why they wanted him to leave early.

Shiro bid Allura and all his co-workers in the shop and left to go to the bus stop, which was about two blocks away, in front of a forest.

“It’s only been five months.” Shiro said to no one in particular, as he watched the shop get farther and farther away from his view.

Shiro liked working at Altea’s Flowers. It was run by Allura and Coran and it’s main selling point was the selling of Altean Flowers, which was a rare and beautiful warm purple flower bred by Allura’s father. After his accident at the Garrison, which ultimately resulted in the loss of the arm, he was admitted to the hospital and had gotten a brand new robotic prosthetic. As a result he was depressed for a very long time. The lost of the limb was just too much to bear and caused him to drop out of the Garrison. Even though the Garrison had apologized profusely for the accident, it could never replace the absent feeling of an arm. Shiro had to go through torturous hours of therapy and rehabilitation to even get remotely better from the accident. Unable to take it anymore, he had moved away from his old home and settled in the quiet small town of Terrawood; hoping to escape memories from the past.

So here he was, destined to live out his ‘retirement’, which had been generously taken care of by the Garrison themselves. It was still suffocating to be able to use such an arm and have a blank feeling to it.

He had only moved here about five months ago and had found work at Allura’s place when they had met in a Coffee shop and she had learned about his situation. Doing work at a florist’s shop didn’t strain his arm so the doctor gave him a ‘go-ahead’ and as long as Shiro didn’t strain himself it was alright. Though Shiro didn’t need extra money as most of his expenses were covered, Shiro thought that it was extremely relaxing to be taking care of flowers. The activity helped occupied his mind and quell any lingering sadness about the loss of his arm.

Though sometimes, when he was alone, he did get a _tad_ bit depressed about it. The accident was a traumatic experience after all.

When Shiro made it to the bus stop, he saw that there was another person already there. It was a young man, possibly in his late teens. He had a thick scarf around his neck and he was looking at his phone, lazily sitting near the edge of the bus stop bench. Looks-wise, he looked like your typical rebellious college student, but the gentleness of his face made it seem sort of unlikely, despite his appearance. Strangely enough, Shiro noticed, that he was already wearing heavy winter clothing despite it being only the beginning of winter. Well, Shiro couldn’t bring himself to judge the young man, as he knows that some people get cold more easily.

He sat at the opposite side of the bench which was the left side, but the younger man did not take notice of him. Shiro found the silence to be weirdly awkward and wondered if he should strike up a conversation with the younger man, but he seemed so engrossed in his phone, it didn’t seem to matter.

Despite it being the beginnings of winter, Shiro found it way too cold than normal. He felt a chill wafting in the direction of where the young man was sitting, but it was way too unsettling to be a just a normal draft. Feeling somewhat uneasy from this feeling, he decided to strike up a conversation.

“So um, it’s quite cold today.” Shiro said out loud, looking over at the young man.

For a moment, the young man seemed startled that Shiro was even there, like he didn’t even notice that Shiro had sat down on the bench. Shiro thought that was pretty weird, but thought nothing more of it. The younger man looked at him carefully, eyeing him. It was obvious to anyone that he was staring at his prosthetic arm. Shiro felt himself inwardly grimaced, but smiled anyways.

“I guess it is.”

Shiro was mildly surprised that he did not mention anything about the metal prosthetic arm at all. The younger man put down his phone and looked at him.

“Sorry, I, uh, didn’t notice you.” He apologized.

“No, no, it’s completely fine.” Shiro responded, waving his hand to brush it off. He was starting to rethink his initial impression of the young man. “So are you waiting for the bus?”

There was a moment of silence.

“I guess so, since I’m sitting here.” He answered, looking at his phone again.

Shiro couldn’t help feel that it was a really odd response.

The younger man snuck a look at Shiro again and back at his phone. “You smell like flowers.”

“You can smell me from all the way over there?” Shiro asked, laughing a bit. He saw the younger man turning away, apparently blushing, but he didn’t say anything. “I smell like flowers because I work at a flower shop. I’m a florist.”

“You don’t really look like one.” He commented bluntly, still looking away.

“I suppose I don’t, do I?” Shiro chuckled. “But you have a sharp nose.”

He looked away again, but Shiro could tell by looking at his ears that he was blushing again. Deciding that he wasn’t going to talk, Shiro decided to continue.

“I work at Altea’s Flowers, it’s about a few blocks from this stop.” Shiro further explained.

“Oh, I see.”

“Have you heard of it?”

“...No, I don’t go out much.”

Shiro was a little disappointed that he hadn’t heard of the shop, but he didn’t let it get to him. After all, it wasn’t like the shop was world famous or anything. It was just a humble family store.

“Maybe I could visit it sometime.” he suddenly added, as if he sensed Shiro’s disappointment.

Shiro smiled. “We have wonderful flowers this season too.”

“What kind of flowers are they?” He sniffed the air again. “I never smelled this kind of flower before.”

“They’re a rare type of flower called the Altean Flower; hang on I have a picture of it.” Shiro said, taking out his phone. As he continued explaining, he looked for a picture of the flower which he definitely had on his phone. “It’s a feisty delicate flower who only blooms during winter.” He held his phone for young man to see.

“It’s a very pretty flower.” He commented, looking mildly curious. “A lot of people must buy it.”

Nodding, Shiro put his phone away, feeling proud that the place he worked out was being praised. It makes all the work worthwhile. “A lot of people buy bouquets when they’re in season. They’re a popular flower to be gifted.”

When he said that last sentence, the loud rumbling of the bus approached the stop. Shiro recognized its number and saw that it was heading in his direction of home, but he noticed that the younger man gave no response to the bus approaching the stop.

“Is this not your bus?” Shiro asked, as the bus pulled into a stop. A couple passengers jumped off, walking in different directions.

The young man looked at the bus, quietly observing the features of the bus. For a moment, he seemed a little excited, but then he calmed down and shook his head.

“No.”

Shiro looked at the schedule of buses posted on a sign next to the stop. There was only a few more buses to other locations after this, so this young man must be going on one of them.

“Take care on the way.” Shiro said to the younger man, who had turned his head to look at him once more, before dragging his gaze downward.

“It was nice talking to you.”

And with that, Shiro hopped on the bus before it could pull away and tapped his bus card on the check. The bus was empty, save for the driver. Not many people took a bus this late at night and this particular location, but Shiro knew on the way back to where his neighborhood was at that they would be picking up more people. He took a seat the front of the bus and waved good bye to the young man, who only gave him a sincere blank look in response.

Only when the bus started to move did Shiro realize that he had forgotten to ask for a name.

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

That night, Shiro dreamed that he was sitting at the bus stop. He knew it was the bus stop because something told him it _had_ to be and he was waiting for a particular bus to arrive. Even though he had only been asleep for a short while, it felt like had been waiting for the bus for years and years. There was another person sitting next to him sitting on the other side of the bench, but it was too undefined for Shiro to confirm who or what it was. Shiro waited for a long time at the bus stop and he almost found himself falling asleep in his dream, weird enough.

However there was a terrifying loud screech and instantly the air around got ice cold. A dark horribly disfigured shadow with blinding white eyes rushed towards him out of the fuzzy darkness, squealing like a wild animal. Shiro could only watch in sheer terror as the dark shadow pounced towards him, claws outstretched. It happened so fast, Shiro couldn’t even scream.

Shiro woke up in cold sweat to the sound of his alarm clock wailing. Shiro rubbed his tired face, still trembling as the nightmare replaying softly in his mind. He reached an arm over and switched off the ringing alarm clock. Realizing that it was time to head to work, Shiro dismissed the strange dream and got out of bed. As he went about his morning routine, the dream faded away and by the time Shiro left his apartment, he could barely recall any remnants of the dream.

He arrived to work as normal, using the late morning bus, greeted Allura and Coran and went about the day caring for the plants as always. Strangely enough, as the weather got slightly colder as the day progressed, Shiro found himself curiously looking forward to visiting the bus stop again. It was as if the vague dream last night was pressuring him to visit the bus stop. Maybe it was because he never caught the name of the interesting young man yesterday. Shiro caught himself unconsciously glancing at the clock more than once.

“In a hurry, Shiro?” Coran asked Shiro.

Shiro shook his head. “Not really.” He glanced at the clock. “I’m just...looking forward for something today.” It wasn’t really a lie, Shiro was looking forward to returning to the bus stop. He wanted to talk to him again, it was fun.

“That’s new.” Allura said. “Normally you’d fight not to leave. Did you find something interesting to participate in?” She then wiggled her eyebrows at him cheekily. “Or perhaps you met a certain someone?”

Laughing, Shiro shook his head. “Nothing like that.” He flexed his metal fingers, which was hidden under the rubber garden gloves. “Just met an interesting person at the bus stop and I forgot to ask for his name. I was sort of hoping to ask him if we meet up again.”

Allura merely gave him a suggestive smile before she was called by Hunk, who was greeting some customers. She looked back at Shiro and gave a happy smile.

“Do tell me how your friend-making works out.” She said, before rushing over to greet the customers.

Work continued as normal, until Shiro’s shift ended and he obediently cleaned up and left before Allura could scold him about working overtime. Despite looking forward to the bus stop, Shiro was in for a small surprise when he returned to the bus stop to find that the young man was still there, though he had expected to run into him again. He had half-expected not to see him again due to such a short encounter yesterday.

In fact, this guy was still in the same clothes as when Shiro last saw him.  Although he found it pretty strange, he didn’t really question it. College students were known to use the same t-shirt two or more times in a row until it stunk. He had went through college and had dealt with laundry issues as well.

He sat down in the same spot as he sat yesterday, tapping his foot loudly on the ground to see if the younger man would recognize him, but he was still looking intently at is phone.

“Hey there.” Shiro said, to the young man.

The young man was startled, eyes widening as he looked at Shiro, but once he realized who it was, he calmed down. “Oh it’s you, sorry. I see you...”

“I didn’t catch your name last time.” Shiro said, extending a hand for the other to shake. “Mine is Takashi Shirogane, but you can just call me Shiro.”

The young man watched carefully, looking a bit nervous before tentatively taking Shiro’s hand. “My name is Keith.”

Shiro found Keith’s hand to be unusually cold, but that was probably because the latter had his hand out and was playing on his phone until a few moments ago. It was pretty chilly around the but stop again today.

“Well, nice to meet you, Keith.” Shiro exclaimed, giving a warm smile.

“You too,” Keith said. “Shiro.”

“Your bus hasn’t arrived yet?” Shiro asked and Keith shook his head, looking very disappointed.

For a moment, an awkward silence followed, since Shiro had expected Keith to answer verbally, but the quiet teen just remained silence. In a few specks of the moment, Keith glanced over at Shiro out of the corner of his eye. It took a tick for Shiro to realize that Keith was looking at his prosthetic arm. Keith looked curious about it, but looked unsure about asking.

“It’s a prosthetic.” Shiro said, answering Keith’s silent question. He flexed the metal limb to show it off.

“Oh…” Keith looked a little bit uncomfortable and worried, but still curious nonetheless. “Was... it an accident?”

Shiro gulped, unsure if he should divulge in such a sensitive memory, but he did bring it upon himself when he answered Keith about his arm. Strangely enough, Shiro didn’t feel any qualms about telling Keith at all. It was almost as if, despite their only short times together, that Shiro felt he could completely trust Keith. Something in him told him that there was no reason to distrust him. After a moment of pondering, Shiro decided to give in to this supposed gut feeling.

“Yeah, I used to work at the Garrison.” Shiro explained. He felt the empty feeling of his arm echo in his systems, making him feel suddenly depressed. “Something happened and I lost my arm.”

Keith nodded his head understandingly. “I’m sorry for what happened. Sounds rough.”

“It was.” Shiro confirmed, inwardly glad that Keith wasn’t rude about it.

He couldn’t count how many times tasteless kids had mocked him for having a metal arm in his old city he lived in. The hushed gossiping from the people around him was a burden too. It really didn’t help his mental state. The fact that Keith had been so open and accepting of Shiro’s strange handicap confirmed that Keith was a very nice person in Shiro’s book.

Shiro turned to Keith, giving him a thoughtful look. “What about you? What are you doing here?”

“I was, uh-” Keith stammered, looking like he was drawing a blank. His eyes looked like he had frozen up, and Shiro wondered if he had asked something he shouldn’t have, although he was sure that it wasn’t a very bad question.

“Keith?” He asked  hesitantly, reaching out a hand to Keith’s shoulder.

Suddenly, Keith spoke again, shaking his head. “You smell like flowers again.”

“That’s true.” Shiro said, a little bewildered at the sudden change of subject, but he didn’t question it. Whatever Keith didn’t want to talk about was probably none of his business, though he felt a little hurt that he didn’t feel like sharing even though Shiro did. “I work at a flower shop remember? I think I told you yesterday.”

Keith nodded. “I remember, yester-” Then his eyebrows furrowed and he put a hand to his forehead as if he head a headache. He massaged his temples, blinking rapidly. “Yeah…you told me…?”

“Are you alright, Keith?” Shiro’s face drawing in concern.

“I am… fine.” Keith said slowly, shaking his head, looking like he was about to panic.

Despite Keith’s words, Shiro was not inclined to believe that Keith was ‘fine’ like he said. After a few moments of rubbing his head, Keith seemed to have recovered his headache. He looked at Shiro, his eyes much more calmer than he was before.

“Sorry…” He apologized.

“No, don’t apologize.” Shiro said, gesturing with both his hands. “Everyone gets a little sick now and then. Just make sure you rest when you get to home.”

Keith nodded, but his forehead wrinkled at the word ‘home’ and Shiro wondered if the headache was coming back, but he shook his head again and gave a tired smile.

“Yeah, I will.”

Shiro decided to edge a little closer to Keith. It was obvious that Keith wasn’t feeling well, but there wasn’t exactly a lot Shiro could do for him. It wasn’t like he could invite Keith to his home for some hot cocoa or something. They were at a bus stop. The least he could do is to make sure to be ready if Keith decided to collapse or something similar.

For the next few minutes, Shiro and Keith sat in silence, with Shiro glancing every so often at Keith to make sure the younger man was alright. However, despite his worries, Keith had returned to a his original state, sitting quietly in the edge of the seat and playing on his phone. Even though he was concerned, seeing Keith okay again, Shiro wondered if his headache was just because Keith was tired today.

“So-” Shiro started, wanting to bring up another conversation, but unfortunately, the rumble of the bus incoming cut his sentence.

Realizing his bus was arriving, Shiro realized that he should ask Keith for his contact. Keith seemed like a nice person and while he was worried for Keith and his oddity today, Shiro found comfort talking with Keith and hoped that he would be able to talk to Keith again.

“May we exchange numbers?” Shiro said, taking his own phone out.

Keith looked at Shiro blinking for a moment before nodding. “Sure.”

Shiro handed his phone to Keith, who punched his number it and handed it back to Shiro. His phone felt oddly cold in Shiro’s hands. By the time they were done, the bus had pulled to a stop. A few people hopped off and Shiro gave one look back at Keith, who seemed to have settled back into his own little world.

“See you.” Shiro said. “I’ll text you, if that’s not a problem.”

Keith shook his head. “No problem at all.”

With a wave, Shiro boarded the bus, swiping his bus card at the machine and continued on into sit in the same spot he always sat. As always the bus was empty at this point, except this time there was an senior citizen sitting in the back, looking like he was asleep. The bus started and Shiro watched carefully as the bus stop went out of view and Keith with it.

After going a certain distance away, Shiro opened his mobile phone to text Keith.

『Hello, Keith. This is Shiro’s number. I was just a little worried, since you seemed a little sick today. Hope you feel better. - Shiro』

Satisfied with his message, Shiro hit the send button and turned the screen off on his phone to conserve battery. He turned his attention to the scenery whizzing by. Only a few minutes passed  when his phone vibrated, startling him from his daydream. He was surprised at the fast response, but then again, Keith always seemed to be on his phone.

But the message wasn’t what he expected.

『 **FAILED TO SEND** \- We’re sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or no longer in service. If you feel this message is an error, please check the number and try again.』


	2. Strange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something strange this way is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot to upload to upload this today xD  
> Once again, thanks to my betas who took the time to read this lengthy story...
> 
> So without further ado, here is Chapter 2 of Erased, enjoy :3c

                                                                                        

* * *

“Sorry, the number you are calling has been disconnected or no longer in service. Please check the number and try again.”

Confused, Shiro put down the phone. After he had reached home, he had decided to try call Keith on his home phone after he had failed to reach Keith with his mobile, but it seems that the situation was the same with any other phone. He looked through his contacts and checked Keith’s number again. Did Keith type in his own number wrong?

For some reason, Shiro felt frustrated over this matter, having been so close to having a connection to meeting Keith other than the bus stop. As he studied Keith’s phone number again, he suddenly became aware of how strangely obsessed he was with Keith. It was incredibly odd. They had only met twice over the course of two days, but Shiro felt a strange connection to the other. It was as if a sentient force was bothering him about Keith constantly.

Feeling irritated, he got on Voltron Messenger, a popular instant messaging app for mobile users, deciding to contact Allura.

**> SHIRO:** Allura, sorry to bother you late at night, but do you think you can try contact the number I attached to this message? Thanks.

**> Contact: [Keith] has been attached. **

Shiro waited a while before he saw the that Allura was typing a reply.

**> ALLURA: ** Who’s Keith?? What do you need me to contact him for?

**> SHIRO: ** He’s the guy I met at the bus stop. I can’t contact him, I was wondering if you could.

**> ALLURA: ** Ok, hang on.

**> SHIRO: ** Thanks.

When Allura didn’t reply in the next five minutes, Shiro decided to take a shower and grab some dinner first. He had been so caught up with trying to contact Keith that he had forgotten to eat himself. Shiro took a shower and heated some leftovers for dinner.

When he had returned, Shiro found that Allura had already responded.

**> ALLURA: ** Sorry it took so long. I tried calling, and I had Coran try on his mobile. I even tried using our house phone, but the call just won’t connect. Are you sure it’s the right number?

**> SHIRO: ** It should be, Keith put the number in himself.

**> ALLURA: ** Maybe he typed it in wrong. I know Lance can’t even remember his own phone number :P Just ask again when you meet up. I’m sure it’s just a typo.

**> SHIRO: ** I guess you’re right. Thanks, Allura.

**> ALLURA: ** NP :D

An uneasy feeling washed over Shiro when he shut off his phone. Although it could be just what Allura had said, that Keith just put in his own phone number wrong, he felt himself plagued by an idea that something was very wrong. Feeling somewhat stressed, Shiro decided to get ready for bed before he got too overworked. Sleeping would most likely quell his strange feeling.

But even as he lay down on his bed, Shiro found himself unable to sleep. Thinking back to his encounters with Keith, everything had been very strange. Keith had been wearing the same clothing and he had always seem cold. In fact, whenever Keith was around the bus stop, the air around them would get chillier. Then again, it was later in the night and nights had the tendency to be cooler than daytime. Keith didn’t appear in the mornings when he went to work in the late morning - early afternoon.

Now that he thought about it, Keith seemed about the same age as Lance and the others, perhaps a little younger, he can’t say for sure. According to Pidge, their classes usually started at 10AM if not earlier, regardless of what major they were in. It could be possible that Lance, Pidge, or Hunk knew who Keith was. In his moment of eureka, he picked up his phone at the side of his bed before he realized that it was almost 11pm at night. It would be kind of rude to message the busy students if they were busy with assignments, studying, or even asleep. College life was very difficult after all.

Shiro dropped his phone back on the bedside table and rolled onto his back, resting his metal hand on his stomach and closed his eyes. It would be better if he asked them tomorrow when they met up. Then he could get an instant answer.  Feeling much better after he mapped out his day tomorrow, Shiro closed his eyes and waited for sleep to arrive. 

However, it was less peaceful than he had wanted it to be.

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

When Shiro opened his eyes, he found himself sitting at the same bus stop again. This time, he recalled the memories of his dream he other day and found himself alert, but this time there was no one sitting on the other side of the bench. It was just himself, the falling snow, and an soothing white fog that surrounded the area except for the bus stop and the road. 

Peering into the fog, Shiro found himself unable to make out anything beyond it’s thickness and yet again found himself unable to stand up from where he was sitting. Similar to the last dream however, Shiro still knew that he was still waiting for a bus to arrive.

A rumble in the distance startled Shiro and he was worried the monster from the previous dream had returned, but it was simply a bus that emerged from the white fog. The bus pulled up near the bus stop and opened it’s doors. A few figures that could be vaguely categorized as people walked out of the bus and into the fog.

_ That’s not the one. _

A thought popped into Shiro’s head and Shiro agreed, it wasn’t the bus he was looking for. After a moment, the bus pulled away and disappeared into the fog and Shiro found himself aimlessly waiting again.

No moment sooner, another bus arrived, repeating the same actions the previous bus had. Again, the bus opened it’s doors and indistinct shapes of people filtered out of the bus.

_ That’s not it. _

Nodding his head, Shiro agreed with the thought in his head. It wasn’t this one either. The bus closed its doors and disappeared into the fog.

The process repeated, again and again, for what seemed like years and years. Shiro found himself losing hope that the bus he was waiting for would ever arrive. Bus after bus, none of them were  _ his  _ bus. The pattern repeated again and again; it made Shiro feel almost like he was in a never ending dream.

Eventually, he fell asleep waiting for one of the many buses to come by and found himself waking on his bed in his apartment. Shiro felt strangely sluggish when he opened his eyes. He looked over at the alarm clock and realized that he had woken up before the alarm, which was unusual, but not weird. He had often woken up before the alarm sounded. 

He swung his legs off his bed, rubbing his face before picking up the alarm clock and shutting it off before it could ring.

“That was a weird dream.” Shiro said out loud, his own voice sounding foreign to his ears.

Picking up his phone, Shiro checked the date and time of the day and was relieved to find out that it was already the next day. His dream was so real that it felt like he had been asleep for years and years. He wondered if this was how Sleeping Beauty felt like. He could only describe the feeling as if he slept for too long.

Shiro shook his head, trying to get rid of the drowsiness from his head and decided to get ready for the day. He washed up in the bathroom, putting on some respectable clothing before going to his kitchen and making a cheese toastie for breakfast. After he was done, he decided to leave his apartment early and go for a light jog on the way to the bus stop.

It was mostly a normal day. As expected, Keith wasn’t at the bus stop when Shiro arrived, but Shiro shrugged it off. When he had made it to Altea’s Flowers, he found Allura looking for him.

“Did you get to meet Keith again?” She asked.

He shook his head. “No, he isn’t at the bus stops during mornings. He should be at the bus stop later when I go home though.”

“I see.” Allura said in an understanding voice. “Well, I hope you meet up today.” She dusted off her hands and pointed to a bunch of flowerpots that Shiro was sure wasn’t there yesterday.

“Our shipment of Casa Blanca Lilies has arrived!” Coran exclaimed excitedly, appearing out of the storage room. “We gotta get to work making sure these lovely flowers get repotted before the snow sets in.”

“Sounds good.” Shiro chuckled. “Let me suit up first.”

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

Most of the day went as expected. Shiro worked with Allura and Coran to fix up the newcomer flowers into the Shop’s indoor garden. There was so much work to be done that Shiro almost forgotten what he had set out to do. He found himself absorbed looking into caring for the new flowers. He only remembered when a set of footsteps approached the shop.

“Hey-ho, the part-timers have arrived!” Lance announced, giving a bow before being elbowed by Pidge. He sniffed indignantly at her.

“You’re fifteen minutes behind schedule.” said Allura, giving them a distasteful frown. “Where were you?”

“Oh sorry,” Hunk started to explain. “We stopped by this awesome corndog stand for a snack and-”

“You mean  _ you  _ stopped at the awesome corndog stand.” Pidge said, cutting him off and correcting him. “You insisted that we wait for you because you didn’t want Allura and Coran to get mad at you for being late alone.”

Hunk looked like he was about to object, but upon catching the gaze of the three adults in the store, he instead gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I traded my lunch time for study time today so I was hungry.”

Allura shook her head and sighed, while Coran just gave a shrug.

“Well, hop to it then.” Coran said. “Better late than never I always say. Chop chop!” 

The three teens quickly stumbled into the stop and into the storeroom to get their uniforms on, which consisted of a simple garden apron, rubber boots, and some gloves. Upon coming out, the teens split up to their separate workloads. Pidge and Hunk busied themselves with re-potting what’s left of the new flowers. Since there were more hands available, Shiro turned his attention caring for the Altea Flowers, accompanied by Lance.

“So how was school today?” Shiro asked Lance, who disdainfully stuck his gloved hand into a sack of smelly  _ natural  _ fertilizer, fresh from the local farms.

“Same old, same old.” Lance replied. “Nothing new going on.”

Shiro sprinkled a little water on the fertilizer to help it sink in faster. “So I take it the exam this morning went well.”

Lance’s eyes went wide upon hearing the word ‘exam’ and he gave a dry cough. 

“I’ll...have to get back to you on that.” said Lance, looking a little nervous. 

“There’s no need to tell me if you are uncomfortable.” chuckled Shiro. Then he decided to pop the question. “Do you know anyone named Keith?”

Lance stopped for a moment. “Keith?” The college student froze for a moment, seeming to be deep in thought before shaking his head. “No, I don’t remember knowing anyone with that name.”

Shiro himself was confused. “How about at your school?”

“There  _ might  _ be someone named Keith around, but I’ve never seen or talked to them.” replied Lance. He eyed Shiro curiously. “Why are you asking?”

“Well, I met a person about your age named Keith at the bus stop.” Shiro explained as he brushed off a bug he saw climbing a pot. “We exchanged phone numbers, but I haven’t been able to contact him. I thought maybe you knew him from school.”

“Oh...I see.” 

Lance stood up, but then wibble-wobbled when the blood rushed to his head to fast and he got light headed. He almost tripped on a hose behind him when Shiro grabbed his hand from falling.

“Stood a little fast there, buddy.” Shiro warned.

After steadying himself, Lance shook his head and smiled at Shiro. “My bad.” Then after a moment. “I’ll try ask Pidge and Hunk to see if they know anyone named Keith.”

“That would be great, Lance.” said Shiro. “Thanks. Not now though, Allura would get mad if we start slacking off. We have a break in about forty-five, we can talk then.”

The time until break time went by quickly. Although he was somewhat disheartened that Lance did not know of Keith, he felt sure that perhaps Pidge or Hunk knew of him. When it came time for a break, Shiro and the gang were sent upstairs of the store, where Allura and Coran lived. They put up a sign to say they were out for a break. Allura offered them all cookies and juice and Shiro decided to approach Lance, Pidge, and Hunk who were busily conversing themselves on Allura’s couch.

Upon seeing him, Lance perked up and turned to Pidge and Hunk. “Oh yeah, Shiro was asking, do you guys know anyone named Keith?”

“Keith?” Hunk asked and Shiro nodded. He stuffed a cookie in his mouth and slurped his juice, but then shook his head. “I don’t know. What about you Pidge?”

“No, not anyone I’ve heard of.” responded Pidge. Shiro grew considerably hopeless upon hearing their answers. 

Hunk had went to the table and refilled his glass of juice. “Why are you asking?” 

“He met someone named Keith at the bus stop.” Lance said before Shiro could even say a word. “This Keith guy gave Shiro the wrong number.” Lance frowned, realizing the situation. “Suddenly, I don’t like this guy. He could have given the wrong number to joke with you.”

“I don’t think he meant to, Lance.” replied Shiro. “You haven’t met him. He’s a bit on the quiet side, but he’s a really nice guy.”

Pidge had a hand to her chin and seemed to be deep in thought. Then she looked up at Shiro, her face full of determination.

“Somehow, I feel like I heard of this before.” Frustrated she dropped her cookie on the plate and scratched her head with her hands. “Argh, I can’t remember!”

“Don’t push yourself, Pidge.” Shiro waved his arms to calm the younger one down. 

“No, this is at the tip of my tongue.” Pidge replied. She thought for a second before holding up her hand in realization. “I bet I have this on my laptop!” 

“Break time’s over!” Coran said to them, picking up the remnants of the snacks. “Get ready for the second part of your shift. Don’t dilly-dally, let’s go!”

Lance and Hunk looked at each other and then went down before they could potentially be scolded, but Pidge stayed behind and grabbed Shiro’s shirt. 

“I’ll look up on Keith when I get home and will message you when I find out about Keith.” She said. 

“Remember, schoolwork comes first.” Shiro said. He was happy to be getting somewhere, but he didn’t want his baseless obsession of Keith to get in the way of other people’s life.

“Don’t worry, Shiro.” She said, fixing her glasses with one hand. “You know me, I won’t let my grades fall behind.” Then her face became much more serious. “I feel like it’s something important though.”

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

Today was no different from the past two days. Keith was once again sitting in the same spot at the bus stop’s bench. Just as Shiro’s suspicions was, Keith was wearing the same clothes he has been using for the past days. If his text or his calls had gone through yesterday, Shiro would be able to stretch his belief that Keith didn’t like doing laundry of the sort, but now Shiro was suspicious.

Something strange was afoot.

He sat in the middle of the bench, not quite next to Keith, but not quite the opposite. He looked expectantly at the young man, but Keith had what one could call a face dead of expression. Keith looked aimlessly on, as if he was waiting for something that would never come. Somehow looking at Keith’s dead expression made Shiro feel somewhat sorry for him.

“Ehem.” Shiro said, clearing his throat to deliberately get Keith’s attention. “Keith?”

Keith jumped upon hearing his name and looked at Shiro with widened eyes, clearly startled by his presence. Upon realizing who it was, Keith’s solemn expression returned, but he seemed happy to see Shiro.

“Shiro,” He started. “You scared me.”

“You seem to get startled a lot.” commented Shiro, recalling all the times Keith had been startled by him.

Keith looked away, looking somewhat embarrassed. “I don’t usually get startled.”

“By the way the phone number you gave me didn’t work out.” Shiro said, taking out his phone and showing it to Keith. He showed Keith the contact entry he had for him and Keith observed his number.

“But the number is correct.” Keith said, looking a little bewildered. “Could it be your signal?”

Shiro was about to tell Keith that it wasn’t the case since both he and Allura tried to contact his number in various ways and it all failed, but something grabbed his tongue and he couldn’t say it.

“Maybe you should try add me on your phone instead.” Shiro offered.

Keith blinked. “Alright.” He took out his phone and held it out  to Shiro, who put his own phone on his lap.

As soon as Shiro touched the phone, he found out that it was surprisingly cold. It was as if it had been in the fridge for a while. It took a while to his hands to get used to the cold, but eventually the phone warmed up a little in his touch. Keith had an eye on his phone as Shiro typed in his number on it, probably to make sure Shiro was putting it in the right place.

When Shiro was typing his number he noticed something strange. 

The phone’s time read 11:23PM.

Shiro glanced at his phone on his lap out of the corner of his eye.

His phone’s time read 9:17PM.

“You’re phone’s time is a bit off.” Shiro said, as he finished typing in his number. He handed it back to Keith who saved the contact and looked at the time.

“No, it’s right.” Keith replied surely, looking perplexed.

Shiro and Keith exchanged glances and for a moment they just stared at each other. Eventually, Shiro decided not to question it and waved his hand. Maybe Keith was experiencing some sort of weird jetlag? He didn’t know.

“Well, let’s not worry about it.” he said. “How about try calling my phone with yours?”

Nodding, Keith went to his contacts and opened up Shiro’s. After opening up, he clicked the call button and looked expectantly at Shiro’s phone. However, nothing happened. Shiro looked at his phone and back at Keith, who had now held up his phone to his ear.

“It says there’s no signal.” explained Keith.

“That explains why I haven’t been able to call you.” Shiro said, feeling somewhat relieved.

“I can try call you later when my signal comes back.” assured Keith. 

“Sounds good.”

Shiro was startled himself when he found the bus roll in front of him. He had been so indulged in conversation with Keith, he didn’t notice that his bus arrived. He stood up, and looked at Keith, who merely looked at him with a rather blank look. 

“My bus is here.” Shiro said, taking a step forward. “I’ll be looking forward to your call.”

“Alright.” Keith replied, giving a small wave. “See you.”

After bidding farewell to Keith, Shiro got on the bus and like the days before, he watched Keith and the bus stop go out of view. The trip home was pretty boring and Shiro had ended up falling asleep. The bus driver had actually had to wake him up when they arrived at his stop. 

Yawning, Shiro entered his apartment complex and headed up to where his apartment was at on the third floor. Once he had entered his apartment, his phone vibrated. He looked at his notifications and saw that Pidge had messaged him.

**> PIDGE: ** Hey, Shiro, I don’t want to freak you out, but you should check this out.

**> PIDGE attached ‘** **_Black Ice blamed for...’_ ** **link.**

**> PIDGE: ** I remembered seeing this about three years back on the news and I had to do some digging to find it. You should probably sit down before reading it.

Upon reading the link, Shiro felt a sharp chill rise up his spine and suddenly his lips had became dry. He licked his lips as he shakily opened up the link and read the website’s contents. Unfortunately, it merely confirmed his suspicions.

** ____________________ **

**“Black Ice blamed for Horrific car accident”** **  
**_ TERRAWOOD TIMES _ _  
_ December 28th, 20XX

A horrific accident shook the hearts of many today when a car driven by David Ashfield skidded on some black ice and crashed into the bus stop on Auburn St. December 28th at 11:23pm, which crashed into social worker Laura Wilson, and town visitor, Keith. David Ashfield was found dead at the scene and other victims were quickly taken by paramedics to the local hospital.

Their conditions have yet to be disclosed, but our hearts go out to the Ashfield family...

**____________________**

The rest of the article didn't make sense.

It was like someone switched on the static in his brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;) Coming soon?


	3. Erased

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this chapter :D

                                                                                        

* * *

His dream had been completely black; stuck in eternal darkness. 

Utter silence.

The only thing that was there was the gentle fall of snow. Another thing he noticed is that he felt very cold. It was so cold that Shiro felt like he was freezing to death. He knew that he was asleep, but he couldn’t wake up. He  _ had  _ to wake up, he couldn’t be stuck here. Shiro wandered in his freezing dream, trying to find the exit or some way he could wake up. 

Being in this dream was suffocating and in his desperation he had started running blindly in all directions. Through the darkness and the white flakes of snow, but it led nowhere. It was like he had been running in place. Frustration started to kick in as he struggled to escape. But the endless black planes were barren; he found none. 

_ It’s cold.  _

A voice said. Shiro silently agreed.

_ I can’t leave.  _

The voice added. In Shiro’s short time here, there was no escape. It made sense.

_ I can hear the snow. _

He could too.

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

When Shiro opened his eyes he had realized that he had forgotten to set his alarm last night and had overslept. He instantly jumped for his phone and realized that Allura had miscalled him five times. Even though his brain was still trying catching up with reality, he decided to call Allura.

“Shiro?” Allura’s voice sounded over the phone. She sounded relieved, but still worried. “Where are you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” replied Shiro, though he was unsure of how he really felt. “I didn’t feel well last night and overslept.”

There was a short silence over the phone before Allura spoke up.

“Well, take a rest for today. You can come back in a few days when you’re feeling better.” She said. “No buts, just relax. Promise me you will not exert yourself.”

“I, uh, promise.” stammered Shiro.

There was some unintelligible chatter over the phone and Allura hurriedly explained that she needed to get back to work. After a quick goodbye, she hung up and Shiro found himself blankly looking at the phone in his hand. He understood her worry. Allura had been informed by Shiro’s doctor that if he had shown any signs of fatigue or unwellness, to give him time to recuperate. He felt bad that he was unable to help today, but gave in to the idea that perhaps he wasn’t in the best state of mind to interact with other people or do any sort of work at the moment.

Resting back into his bed, Shiro’s mind traveled to what happened yesterday. After he had read the article that Pidge had linked him, Shiro had felt sick to the very core. Thankfully, he had won over the urge to throw up, but found himself constantly restless afterwards. He had thanked Pidge for the information, and while she asked if he was okay, Shiro assured her that he was fine and quickly changed the status of his messenger to ‘Unavaliable’. Although he had noticed the 2 quiet notifications from Pidge, he didn’t really have the energy to look it up.

Keith was dead?

Although he didn’t seem to believe it, the facts slowly lined up. Keith had been wearing rather heavy winter clothing for what seemed to be the beginning of winter, and he never changed his clothes either. He always sat at the same spot and never noticed Shiro until  _ he  _ initiated a conversation. Keith’s hand and phone was extremely cold upon contact and Keith also seemed to freeze up whenever Shiro made any mention the passage of time, like he couldn’t understand that time had passed by. It also made sense why Shiro could never contact Keith and vice versa. To top the cherry on the cake, the time on Keith’s phone matched perfectly to when the accident supposedly happened.

Keith really was dead.

And according to the article, he had been dead for  _ three years _ .

The fact that he had been talking to a ghost for three days unaware made Shiro feel rotten to the very core.

Though he had taken into consideration that perhaps the Keith he met and the Keith in the article were two different people, it was too much of a coincidence to just pass it off as such. Besides, the Keith in the article didn’t have a last name, which was weird considering that the two other people had their last names listed, but the Keith he met didn’t introduce a last name either.

Maybe Keith didn’t have a last name.

It wasn’t impossible for some people to not have a last name. When he was at the Garrison, a few of the people there only had a first name as well. This wasn’t a coincidence.

Would Keith start appearing there forever now?

No, that wasn’t right. If that was the case, Keith would have appeared in the five months he had begun to live in Terrawood or during other times in the day. No, no, Keith only appears around the evening...around the time of the accident.

...Keith only appeared around the time the accident happened.

Shiro was startled by the sound of a car speeding past. He sat up and looked out the curtained window next to his bed. He opened it and instantly the late morning sun filtered in. As he stared out into the street and the neighborhood, Shiro pondered on what he was going to do. Taking deep breaths, Shiro absent-mindedly rubbed the cool metal of his prosthetic. 

He didn’t exactly want to go back to the bus stop.

He could easily avoid having to take the bus by jogging to work, which he had used to do before Allura introduced him to the Bus Lines, but that took way longer. There was also the idea of using a Taxi, but they were quite expensive and a luxury to use. Even though Shiro had been supplied by the Garrison, he was still on a budget.

Bringing his hand to his head, Shiro took a deep breath. 

This whole situation was difficult to take in. Never in his life would he ever thought to have met a ghost, much less actually conversing with one over the span of three days.

The person he talked to was a  _ ghost.  _

He had  _ died.  _

He wasn’t supposed to be  _ here.  _

Shiro was tired. Even though he had slept for the required hours of a healthy sleep, he still felt exhausted. He knew that it had something to do with the strange dreams that had plagued him the last few days. Now that he thought about it, those dreams had to do somewhat with a bus stop and the cold, something that Shiro now associated with the ghost. 

Was Keith torturing him with these dreams?

Ghosts often tormented the living. That’s what Shiro learned from horror movies.

Feeling distraught over these bustling thoughts, Shiro decided it would be best to at least wash up and get out of bed. As so he did, but he skipped breakfast because he didn’t really feel up to it. Instead, he hopped on his laptop and investigated the link that Pidge had sent him.

It wasn’t like reading the article over again changed anything; all it did was re-confirm that the event was true. Terrawood Times was the main news site for the small suburban town Terrawood. Since it was such a small place, there was only one main newspaper available. Copies of the newspaper were made online, which Shiro assumed was how Pidge was able to retrieve such an old article.

He opened a new tab in his browser and opened up Google. He clicked on the search bar and typed in ‘what to do when meeting a ghost’. He had hoped that it would give him some information on what to do, but it only gave him inadequate results. Mostly of people giving baseless guesses on some forum or a person on YouTube making a funny skit about it. Nothing remotely useful popped up. Additionally, he typed in the name ‘Keith’, but nothing remotely useful popped up; but he already knew that. Shiro already knew that he couldn’t find any answers this way. He just felt a little desperate.

All Shiro wanted to do was to erase Keith from his memory.

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

Shiro had been surprised when Allura suddenly appeared on his doorstep. She appeared, wearing a light jacket and carrying a small sling bag. As soon as he had opened the door to let her in, she walked right in without hesitation. Apparently she had decided to go visit him to check on him, since they didn’t have time or really the way to do so over the phone.

“What about the shop?” Shiro asked, but Allura made a waving gesture.

“Don’t be so worried.” Allura walked around and sat down on the kitchen table, and looked at Shiro. “Coran is there to take care of things.”

Shiro was at a loss for words. Allura did like to do things her way, even if it didn’t work in accordance with other people. She gestured for him to sit down, but Shiro shook his head.

“You don’t want a drink?”

Allura gave him an annoyed look. “Maybe a glass of water would be fine, but sit down.” She propped her chin up on her hand. 

After feeling the glasses, Shiro sat down in the table, across to where Allura was sitting. As soon as he had settled down Allura gave him an expectant look, tapping the wooden table with one of her fingers.

“You don’t look physically ill.” Allura commented, looking relieved. “Although the doctors told you not to overexert yourself, you don’t have any muscle pains do you?”

Shiro shook his head. “Nothing like that.”

“Then, what’s been eating you?” questioned Allura seriously. “If you aren’t unwell, why do you look so tired? What’s on your mind?” She was sharp.

“...A lot of things happened.” Shiro answered simply, but it wasn’t enough for Allura.

“Pidge said that it might have been her fault.” Allura raised one of her eyebrows. “That she might have sent something she shouldn’t have.”

Shiro perked up. “No, no, it’s not her fault.” He quickly assured her. “Pidge has nothing to do with this, in fact, she helped me realize something important.”

“Well, I won’t know if you won’t tell me.” she said, taking a sip out of the glass of water.

Licking his lips, Shiro linked his fingers in front of him, trapping the glass between his thumbs. Allura gave him a long hard look as he wondered if he should even try to explain such a strange situation to her. Would she even believe it?

“Well?” She said again.

“Um, it’s a bit complicated.”

“I’m sure I can understand.” Allura pressed.

The kindness in her voice begged desperately for Shiro just to spill the beans, but it was like someone had a hand on his throat and stopped him from talking about the whole ordeal with Keith. It wasn’t like it was joking him or something like that. It might just be that Shiro wasn’t really sure if he believed in the situation itself, despite being the one who experienced it first-hand. But Allura gave him an expectant look.

“Please Shiro, we’re friends. I’m worried about you.” She pleaded. “Lance and the others are too. Pidge is feeling guilty that you weren’t well today. Let us know what’s wrong.”

He took a deep breath.

“It’s going to sound a little weird.”

“It’s alright, I’m good with weird.” Allura smiled.

“Okay then.” Shiro send, breathing out steadily. “You remember Keith?”

She thought for a moment, before her eyes lit up. “Oh yes, that friend you were speaking about at the bus stop?”

“Yeah, that one.” Shiro said. He took out his phone and opened up the link and handed it to Allura. “You should read this.”

Although confused, Allura carefully took the phone in her own delicate fingers and read the context. Judging from her expression it first seemed like she was just confused, perhaps a bit interested, but when she reached a certain point her eyes widened and she looked up at Shiro and locked eyes with him.

“Is this Keith the same…” Her voice trailed off.

“I can’t say for sure, but it seems that it is.” 

“Phew,” she sighed, putting the phone on the table and looking at it in awe. “This is certainly a….  _ unique  _ situation.” She used her finger to scroll through the article. “Actually, I’ve heard of this accident before. Accidents rarely happen here so when this happened it was all over the news. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I remember customers telling me about this event.”

“Yeah.” Shiro said, playing with the glass between his fingers.

“How horrible.” commented Allura sadly. Then she looked up at Shiro. “You say Keith was at this bus stop? How do you know it was the same one?”

“Things just lined up, I guess.” Shiro explained quietly. “I remembered when I...shook his hand, it felt really cold. He never changed clothes and always seemed to freeze up when I mention anything about time. A whole lot more.”

Allura gave him an uncertain look and looked back at the article. Shiro couldn’t blame her for not believing him right away, he himself has trouble believing this. “I see.” She tapped her fingers. “He has been stuck for quite some time.”

There was a moment of silence.

“So, what are you going to do?” she asked, looking at him in the eyes. Shiro was confused.

“What am I going to do?” He repeated.

“Well, are you going to just ignore him?”

Widening his eyes, Shiro looked away, his eyes glistening as he tried to conjure up an answer. “I, I don’t know….What should I do?”

“You spoke so fondly of Keith before this happened.” Allura tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Don’t you want to help him?”

“Help him?” Shiro played with his own fingers. “Help a ghost?”

Allura looked at him with an understanding gaze. “I guess it is a little scary to meet a ghost. I would be if I were in the same shoes.” The florist sighed. 

Scared, Shiro’s thoughts echoed in his head. He supposed he was.

“But it’s not as if Keith wanted to be a ghost in the first place.” added Allura.

When Shiro heard those words, he felt something in him change. It opened up a perspective had forgotten to think about in his moment of disbelief and terror.

“He doesn’t know he’s a ghost.” mumbled Shiro, a bit to himself. Allura tilted her head in confusion, but looked at Shiro expectantly.

“More the reason.” she said.

It was like something had unlocked inside his heart. For the past few hours, Shiro had been upset over the idea that Keith was a ghost, but he had yet to think about what Keith thought in the matter. Like he had just said, it seemed that Keith had no idea he was a ghost. He was stuck there in what seemed like an eternal wait, with no hope of ever being freed.

Suddenly, Shiro recalled the dreams he had. The dreams had been so difficult to remember, but for some reason after retrieving thoughts about the eternal wait, the dreams came back in full force. It was almost like the dream were real life memories he had experienced. 

Were they Keith’s memories?

The dream about the screeching dark shadowy white eyed monster charging at him; now that Shiro thought about it, the features matched a car zooming out of the darkness. The dream about waiting eternally at the bus stop; was that Keith waiting for a bus that will never arrive? Keith had been waiting for a bus, he had mentioned it. Lastly, his most recent dream of wandering in endless darkness in the freezing cold. Was that how Keith felt stuck in his eternal wait? 

“They were all his memories.” Shiro said, looking up at Allura, who only looked confused in response.

“What?” 

“I had dreams,” Shiro said, standing up, startling Allura with the sudden movement. He started gesturing with his hands. 

“Bad dreams, for a couple days now. They were all dreams of the bus stop, or some sort of eternal wait.” He leaned forward to Allura, who leaned back, looking a little shocked. “They were  _ his memories. _ Keith wasn’t tormenting me...he was unconsciously... showing me his memories...”

Shiro suddenly felt something snap inside him and he trailed off.

“Shiro?” Allura asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

He quietly and sat back down, trying slowly to process the information. “...He doesn’t know he’s a ghost who's stuck there forever. He wants to be free, but he doesn’t even know. Keith can’t say it, so every time I interacted with him, I got dreams. Dreams of his memories.” Shiro locked eyes with Allura.

“I think Keith was crying for help.”

“...I see.” Allura said, nodding her head, though she was having trouble trying to catch up with Shiro. “So...are you going to free him then?” She said finally feeling like she had made sense of the subject.

“Can I?” he questioned. The two remained silent they pondered for the moment.

“I’m not so sure myself.” Allura answered crossing her arms in thought. “Though most theories and pop culture suggest that ghosts are here because they have unfinished business.”

Shiro thought for a moment. “Well, in most horror movies, ghosts come back to find their killer, but according to the article, the driver passed away at the scene.”

“That would mean that Keith had something else to do.” Allura pointed out. “Maybe he was on his way to do something important.”

“Wait a minute.” Shiro took his phone, which had been put down by Allura. He scrolled through the article and looked carefully at it. “Keith and the driver wasn’t the only one who died.”

“Yes, Laura Wilson.” responded Allura. “She was a well loved social worker who lived here, but often went and did jobs at other places as well. I heard that her speciality was helping and dealing with... orp...phans...” Then her eyes widened after realizing the correlation. “If she was with Keith…”

“Keith was an orphan.” said Shiro, saying what was on both of their minds. “They were related to each other; Laura was taking Keith somewhere...”

Allura shook her head in disapproval, looking at the article in Shiro’s phone. “To be quite frank, Terrawood Times has never been one to provide the most reliable information since they tend to hurry over details a lot, but even they wouldn’t skip over something as juicy as  _ this. _ ” Then she looked over at Shiro. “I know that Laura was an avid volunteer at the For Me, a non-profit organization geared to helping children.”

Shiro stared hard into the wooden table, listening to Allura talk, and propped his chin by linking his fingers together. His metal fingers felt cool, reminding him of the unnatural coldness to Keith’s hand. He took a deep breath. Honestly, he still felt worried and uneasy about dealing with Keith, but Allura made a solid point. So far, Keith had shown no hostility towards him or even awareness that he was a ghost at all. If it was true that Keith was an orphan, that it was even more reason to believe that he has no ill intentions. No one deserved to suffer an eternal wait until the end of time. The least Shiro could do on his end is at least make sure Keith passes on alright.

Again, Shiro was uneasy, but it was a given when one had to deal with the supernatural entity as a ghost. It was a surprise that Keith had gone this long without anyone noticing him - or maybe they had noticed him, but it never occurred to them that something was wrong. Not many people went to that particular bus stop anyway. How lonely must he be.

Finally, Shiro looked up at Allura with a determined look.

“I’m going to help him.” Shiro said firmly; Allura smiled, happy to see that Shiro had noticeably perked up.  “I’ll help free Keith.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this seems a bit cheesy, I had the most trouble with this chapter. I feel like maybe it's a little unrealistic, but believe me when I say I tried my best ^^ Also this is a pretty short chapter because I needed it to bridge Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 together.
> 
> We're halfway done!
> 
> Next Chap coming soon!


	4. Unfettered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by far the most lengthiest chapter in this whole story, methinks. I was originally going to split a chunk of this off and feed it to the small chapter 3, but I think it works better this way.
> 
> And so we reach the climax of our story.

                                                                                        

* * *

“Uh, is it true that you met a ghost?” asked Lance, who was standing a little ways away. His eyes were wide and he looked apprehensive to come any closer to Shiro.

After their conversation, Allura had taken Shiro back to the shop with her car.. Shiro had decided talking with Pidge about this would be the best course of action, since she was the one who found the article. Shiro did not doubt Pidge’s ability to track and find information; if it came through that For Me did not know anything about what Keith was going to do, or more likely they were unwilling to disclose the information to complete strangers, it was possible that Pidge might be able to track some information.

“It appears so.” answered Shiro, running a hand through his hair. 

“Just want to make sure,” said Lance, holding up a finger with a worried smile. “I may have insulted this guy in the past, he won’t come to haunt me right?” 

Pidge sniffed indignantly at Lance before looking guiltily at Shiro. “Sorry about it Shiro.” she said. “I feel like maybe I should’ve broke the news a different way.”

“Don’t worry about it, Pidge, I’m over it...I think.” He then violently shook his head and patted her gently on the back. “It’s not your fault.”

“So, what, you’re going to go ask For Me about information on a possible orphan named Keith?” questioned Hunk. “Are you sure they’d be willing to tell complete strangers about the personal life of someone else? Why not ask Keith himself? I mean if Keith is showing you his memories from your dreams, he must remember something about when he was alive right?”

“I’m not sure that’s the wisest idea, Hunk.” replied Coran thoughtfully. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but telling someone they’re dead and a ghost wouldn’t exactly bring the best results.”

“That’s a sound argument.” agreed Allura. “Imagine how you would feel if someone suddenly told you that you were a ghost, and showed you an article stating you had died years ago.”

“Honestly, that is pretty terrifying.” Lance said, his face scrunching up as he tried to imagine if he was in that scenario. “I would freak out pretty bad.”

“Yeah, I agree with Coran and Allura.” Shiro crossed his arms. “I don’t want to freak Keith out anymore than I did. He froze up when I mentioned anything related to time passing; simple things like saying ‘yesterday’. It’s like he wasn’t able to grasp that time passed.”

“What Hunk said about For Me is something to consider though.” said Pidge, adjusting her glasses. “It’s unlikely that a successful and non-profit organization would be willing to disclose what can be considered to be personal information.” She looked up at Shiro. “And it would be unlikely that they’d believe that a deceased orphan they tried to help is an apparition haunting a bus stop.”

Shiro shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask. Maybe they can give me some sort of clue.”

A bell rang from the front of the shop.

“Um, excuse me? Is this shop open?” A suited young man had taken a few steps into the shop. “I’m from TheKnot, here to talk about the flowers for bouquets and decoration for the wedding next week?”

“Oh, yes!” Coran answered, going to the front of the shop to greet the customer. “My apologies, sir, we can take our conversation upstairs.” He led the young gentleman upstairs.

“Hunk, Lance, Pidge, hold the fort down downstairs.” Allura said to the part-timers who nodded, then she turned to Shiro. “Sorry Shiro, we’re a little busy right now. I was hoping I could visit you and back before TheKnot representative arrived, but your situation ended up much larger than it seemed. You’ll have to go to For Me on your own.”

“I can message you the address and the quickest way to get there.” Hunk said, pulling out his phone. 

“Alright, but after that get right back to work.” Allura said. “I’ll see you later Shiro, I hope you can find out more information about Keith.” She hurriedly turned around and walked briskly up the stairs where Coran and the wedding planner representative went.

Almost as soon as Allura left to go upstairs, an old woman walked into the shop. With a cane in hand and a pair of thick glasses on her nose. Your typical sweet old woman.

“Hello, excuse me, I’m looking for a lovely bouquet of flowers for my daughter.” She said cheerfully. “She gave birth to a beautiful grandson the other day…”

“Don’t worry, m’am, we have the most prettiest flowers, just like yourself, here at Altea’s Flowers. Why don’t I show you around?” Lance said, taking the woman by the hand.

“Oho, what a nice young gentleman.” She said, reaching over and squeezing Lance on the cheeks. He merely beamed in response.

“You sure have your hands full.” Shiro commented, gradually feeling guilty that he didn’t want to help out that day. He had forgotten completely about the wedding representative coming over.

Pidge faced Shiro and motioned for him to go. “Don’t worry about us, we can handle this on our own.” She smiled. “We managed pretty well before you started working full time.”

Shiro smiled, feeling the full force of friendship at work. He never had any good connections back at the Garrison. Although he enjoyed his job there, the people there were often ill-tempered, irritable, and not sociable at best. Seeing how far his friends in this small town would go for him really warmed his heart. He had to repay them sometime.

“Thanks guys.” he said, before turning around and flipping out his phone as he started walking to the bus stop; knowing most likely that was the mode of transportation he had to use. 

After walking a certain distance, Shiro looked back when he heard a strange foreign thought appearing in his head.

_ Thank you. _

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

As expected, Keith wasn’t there at the bus stop when he arrived; it was still too early in the day for him to appear, but Shiro knew that Keith’s lingering presence must be at the bus stop. Even so, he had felt pretty apprehensive about sitting down, but he soon realized that the air wasn’t cold like all the other times he talked with Keith. As promised, Hunk had sent him the address to Terrawood’s branch of For Me.

Thankfully the building was not so far away. When Shiro arrived he noted that it wasn’t a very extravagant building. There were a couple people walking in and out, but there were plenty of cars in the parking lot. Shiro tried not to stand out as he walked through the doors of the building and made a beeline for what he could assume was the receptionist.

Upon seeing him approach, the receptionist looked up and smiled. “Hello and welcome, sir, to Terrawood’s branch of For Me, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children find hopes and more. How can I help you?”

“Uh, from what I’ve been told, Ms. Laura Wilson used to work here?” Shiro asked. Upon hearing the name the receptionist’s face fell and she looked obviously distraught.

“Yes, that is correct.” she said simply.

Shiro’s face softened. “I’m sure she’s in a better place.” The receptionist gave a sad smile in response. “I’m actually here to talk about Keith, the one Ms. Wilson was with at her passing.”

“Keith?” She looked confused for a moment before looking back at Shiro. “Ah you mean Keith, no last name?”

“Yes, that Keith.” confirmed Shiro.

“I’m sorry sir, but we cannot disclose any personal information regarding people who join our program.” apologized the receptionist, shaking her head apologetically.

“I should have guessed as much.” Shiro sighed, breathing out.

“What do you exactly want to know?” asked the receptionist. “If it’s general information, we might be able to provide it.”

“It’s difficult to explain.” Shiro responded, putting both hands on his hips and giving a tired smile. “I’m not sure you would believe me if I told you.” 

The receptionist tilted her head quizzically. “Would it have to do with a bus stop?”

“How did you know?” exclaimed Shiro.

The receptionist didn’t respond right away. She looked left and right, as if she was making sure that no one was looking. Then she took out a marker and a pack of sticky notes. She scribbled on it and gave it to Shiro.

“I’m not supposed to say anything about this, but you might be able to find some answers from Joshua Keyton.” The receptionist said, pointing at the address on the sticky note. “He was Laura’s best friend. He told me that if anyone asked about this to direct them to him.”

Picking up the sticky note, Shiro felt his heart jump with glee when he found a lead. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

The receptionist smiled. “No problem. Say hi to Mr. Keyton for me.”

Looking at the address, Shiro realized that the address lead to an apartment closeby Altea’s Flowers. After he said farewell to the kind receptionist Shiro went on the bus again and returned to the same bus stop Keith was yet. Like before, Keith was absent from the bus stop, it was still too early. Dismissing it, Shiro went in the direction of the address.

When he arrived, he found a small apartment house huddled in the end of the street. It was a very nice and homey neighborhood, close by to Altea’s flowers too. Shiro had walked past a house that was listed as ‘for sale’ as well. Although he didn’t spare the house a second glance because he was on a hurry, Shiro wondered if he should move closer to the store so he didn’t have to take the bus anymore.

Shaking his head from distracting thoughts, Shiro rung the doorbell of the house and waited for a minute. For a second there was no answer and he thought maybe he wasn’t in, but he heart footsteps approaching the door. After a moment the door opened and a man answered the door. He looked about to be in in his thirties and wore a simple t shirt and shorts.

“Hello, what can I help you with?” asked the man.

“Hello, my name is Takashi Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro.” Shiro said, introducing himself. He stuck out his prosthetic arm to shake hands. Although at first hesitant, the  man shook his hand, though he still looked confused. “The receptionist at For Me directed me here.”

“For me?” he parroted, but then his eyes widened. “Oh! Right! I thought no one would notice…” He seemed excited. “I’m Joshua Keyton, but my friends call me Josh. Come right in, I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

Shiro entered the house and Josh let him too what seemed like the living room. He gestured for Shiro to take a seat and went into the kitchen. After he sat down, Josh went into the kitchen, probably to bring refreshments. While he waited, he looked around the house. Judging by the picture set on the table, it looked like he had a family. Soon, Josh came back with two mugs and offered one to Shiro.

“Sorry, I only have instant coffee.” apologized Josh.

“It’s alright.” replied Shiro, giving the other a smile. He took a sip out of the coffee. It didn’t taste too bad, but it wasn’t the best.

“So…” Josh started. “If the receptionist at For Me sent you here, then that means you seen the ghost at the bus stop.”

“You know about it too?” exclaimed Shiro in shock. He knew that ghost Keith had been around for a while, but it was still a shock to know that someone else noticed him. 

“Well, not exactly.” replied Josh, blowing into his mug of coffee. “I never was able to actually see it properly.” He took a small sip. “Sometimes I see a person there, but every time I got close it would disappear.”

“Keith?” Shrio asked. “But I’ve talked to him.”

Josh coughed, eyes widening. “You did?” He blinked. “Wait, him? Keith?” Then his face fell. “It’s not Laura?”

“Laura?” Shiro then realized why Josh had been looking forward to the ghost at the bus stop. “I’m sorry, it wasn’t Ms. Wilson.”

Josh hung his head and looked disappointed, but then after a moment, he nodded his head. “I thought she wanted to tell me one last message. I should’ve guessed as much. She always said that she didn’t mind dying to help someone else.” He sighed and looked up at Shiro. “It was Keith?”

“...Do you know what happened to him?” asked Shiro, stopping briefly to drink a gulp of coffee out of courtesy. “From the times I’ve talked to him, it seems that he’s trapped there and can’t leave. It seems the only way to free him is to tell him what he was going to do.”

Josh thought for a moment. “I can’t give you complete details, only what Laura told me before she took on the request.”

“Anything you can tell me is great.” responded Shiro.

“Well, Laura told me a little about Keith.” He started. “Apparently the kid was going to go meet his parents for the first time.”

“For the first time?” interrupted Shiro, a little confused. 

“Yeah, it’s a weird story.” Josh nodded his head. “Apparently Keith was switched at birth with another baby at the hospital by a clumsy nurse. So Keith’s parents were given this other baby and Keith went to another couple. The problem with this other couple is that they dropped Keith off as orphan from birth and the baby that Keith was switched with, passed away due to circumstances.”

Shiro let the information sink in for a second.

“So Keith was an orphan because of a  _ mistake _ ?” said Shiro, flabbergasted. 

“Laura has reacted the same way you did. She was furious and ranted to me. “Josh chuckled. “Laura told me that they didn’t find out until Keith was about 19 years old, that’s when the hospital found an error in the system and contacted For Me.” explained Josh. “Laura was taking Keith to visit his parents in the next town over from Terrawood, since Keith didn’t live close by. They were commuting by bus to where Keith’s parents lived because Keith’s parents were very busy.”

Shaking his head, Shiro couldn’t help but empathize with Keith’s situation. To think that he was put through hard because of someone else’s mistake. Although he already knew what happened next in the story, Shiro had to ask anyway.

“What happened after the accident, if you don’t mind me asking?” Shiro asked.

Josh took a deep breath, slowly shaking his head. “Well, I think you might know what happened next. The accident happened.” He sighed. “Even though Laura was alive at first, she died when she arrived at the hospital. She had a private funeral and everything. For Me was devastated and even managed to shush the media.”

“I’m sorry for her passing.” Shiro said quietly and Josh smiled in response.

“As for Keith...I don’t really know what happened to him after that.” surmised Josh. “I did know that he was along Laura since he did survive the initial accident. I heard his wounds were really severe, maybe fatal, and his parents came to take him to another hospital and that’s the last I’ve heard of him.” He shook his head. “I assume the worst if you saw his ghost.”

Shiro nodded quietly. “Yeah.”

The two sat in silence for a while, perhaps in memory of those who passed. Three people lost their lives that day, all of which left a bittersweet note. Shiro felt particularly empathetic with Keith, who was never able to meet his parents after all that time. To think that he had to go through so much for someone else’s mistake; what an unfair world. It had been three years since the accident. Since Keith was nineteen at his death, if he was still alive, he’d be around Lance’s age at age 22; almost graduating from college and beginning to start his own life. Shiro a sharp stab of guilt and sympathy for the unfulfilled life. 

“It’s weird how Keith never showed up to me when I visited that stop.” wondered Josh, looking up at the ceiling. “I guess I was looking for the wrong person. Or maybe, I was just had the wrong motive.” He looked at Shiro with a kind smile. “You must have a kind heart.”

“I don’t know about that.” Shiro shook his head, a little embarrassed. “I was terrified of Keith when I first met him.”

“You were scared of him?” Josh asked.

“I didn’t know at first.” Shiro admitted. “When I first found out, I felt like I’ve been plagued. I didn’t know what Keith wanted and thought he was going to haunt me.” Shiro gave a light laugh; it was hard to believe it was only yesterday.

Josh nodded understandingly. “I get it, ghosts are generally creepy after all.” 

Drinking a sip of his coffee, Josh looked at Shiro seriously.

“I hope I told you what you needed to know.” Josh said, rubbing his hands around his eyes and giving a smile. “At least, I hope that you’ll be able to help Keith pass on.” He paused. “That’s what Laura would have wanted.”

Shiro nodded. “I’ll help Keith, for Laura.” 

_ And for me and him too.  _ He added in his heart.

After chatting casually a bit more, Shiro realized that time was ticking and announced his departure. Not wanting to take any more of Josh’s time finished his coffee and bid him farewell. As he exited the neighborhood, he noticed that a young woman was heading in the direction of Josh’s house with a couple of grocery bags. She looked like the woman in Josh’s framed photograph at their house; she was probably his wife, Shiro assumed.

He walked back to Altea’s Flowers and found that the shop was vacant of the part-timers. Only Allura and Coran were there, tidying up the last of the day’s workload. He barely managed to catch Zarkon the snapping turtle snapping aggressive as raced across his aquarium and smacked into the glass close to where Shiro was standing, startling him. Shiro gave the reptile a displeased look, to which Zarkon replied by hissing defensively, and turned his attention to Allura and Coran, who had seen him in the small commotion.

“Shiro!” Allura exclaimed and she went over to meet him. “How did it go? Did you find the information you needed?”

“Yeah.” was Shiro’s simple answer. He looked around to look for Lance and the others, but just found Zarkon the snapping turtle looking viciously at him. “Did Lance, Pidge, and Hunk go home already?”

Allura nodded. “Yeah, they have an exam tomorrow so I dismissed them early, but we already took care of the decorations for the wedding next week, so you need not worry.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t able to help.” apologized Shiro, but Allura shook her head. 

“Nonsense.” She replied, and smiled at him. “Ever since I met you, Shiro, you’ve had trouble finding something to be interested in. I know that arm had troubled you, even if you didn’t show it on the outside. I haven’t seen you this determined for something, so I’m glad.”

Suddenly Coran came over and looped his arm across Shiro’s shoulders. “Yeah, you cheered up noticeably after talking to this Keith fellow.” Then he loosed his grip and looked sadly at Allura and Shiro. “It’s a shame he isn’t here with us now. I think he would’ve been a great guy.”

“Yeah.” agreed Shiro. “I think he would’ve been a very great guy.”

Shiro glanced at the clock that was at the corner of the store and it was already well-over the time when he had gotten off from work. That meant Keith was already at the bus stop. 

“Do you need a helping hand?” Coran asked Shiro, but he shook his head. 

He remembered that Josh told him that Keith had never fully showed himself to Josh and he didn’t want the same thing happening if he was with another person.

“There’s no need, I can do this myself.” assured Shiro.  _ I hope.  _ He added silently.

He looked to the direction of the bus stop that Keith was at. It was time to unfetter the chained ghost.

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

Shiro didn’t say anything to Keith at first. He sat down next to him and as always, Keith didn’t notice him. It had only occurred to Shiro that once he sat down that after this, he would never be able to see Keith again. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to keep his mouth shut and keep Keith’s company, but that wouldn’t be fair. However, ghost Keith was the only connection to Keith as a person. Once he was gone, Shiro would have nothing to do with him. More so, he wasn’t sure if Keith’s memories while he was a ghost was really valid at all. After this, would he really be able to remember Keith? What if his future self decided it was a dream? Shiro fought the small bubble of worry in the pit of his stomach.

Despite his initial reaction to the fact that Keith was a ghost, Shiro had really enjoyed talking to Keith. Even though he had only known him for barely half a week, Shiro had really thought he had found a friend; a good one. Sure, they only had very short conversations, but the extended dreams of his sleep made him feel like he knew  _ all  _ about Keith. He didn’t need to talk so much with Keith to know that he was a good person.

After swallowing his emotions, he decided to let Keith know he was there.

“Hey.” he greeted the teenager. 

Keith whirled his head around to see him, surprised, but then calmed down when he saw Shiro. “Hey, Shiro.”

“How are you feeling?” he asked carefully.

Keith was silent for a moment. “A little cold.”

Flashbacks to the dream played back in his head. It must be very cold. “I feel you.”

Shiro licked his lips, as he tried to figure out how to tell Keith his purpose for waiting here without telling him he was dead.

“Do you know where you’re headed?” he asked. “You’ve been here for quite a while.”

Looking at him, Keith looked confused and seemed to freeze up again. Possibly the effects of being a ghost. “I-...I don’t…” He shook his head.

“I’m sure you remember.” encouraged Shiro. 

Keith shook his head again, looking even more confused than before. Shiro felt bad for causing him such distress, but knew that it was necessary to set him free. Trying to jog Keith’s memory a bit more, Shiro spoke again.

“Did it have something to do with your parents?” he suggested in the form of a question.

“My parents?” recited Keith, still confused.

“Yeah, buddy. Your parents.” He smiled gently. “Isn’t it the first time you were going to meet them?”

At that moment, something in Keith’s eyes changed. It was like the life that had been missing from his eyes sparked anew once more. Shiro didn’t realize how dull Keith’s eyes were before and was mildly taken aback by how full-of-life Keith seemed now. A soothing warmness filled his heart inside when he stared into them.

“My parents….” he parroted. “That’s right...I was going to go see them.” Keith looked at Shiro excitedly.. “I was going to go see my parents, because of a mistake when I was born.”

“That’s it!” expressed Shiro, glad that Keith finally remembered; though a small twinge in his heart knew that he was going to go away soon.

“I’m an orphan.” Keith told Shiro, but it was almost as if Keith was recounting his own memories. “My name isn’t really Keith, I took the name of the baby I was switched with. That’s why I have no last name.”

“That must’ve been tough.” commented Shiro as he settled down to talk with Keith. He quietly noticed a thick fog rolling in.

Keith shrugged. “It was tough. I thought my parents abandoned me.” He solemnly looked ahead. “I’m glad that I found out that I really was wanted after all.”

“Are you nervous about meeting them?” questioned Shiro. 

He felt an unease in his heart as his mind reminded him that the event was likely never going to happen, but Keith looked happy to talk about it. This conversation was pretty depressing to say the least. At least he could give Keith an easy passing. For himself too.

“A little bit.” Keith admitted. “I only spoke with them over the phone and they were really excited to meet me.” He rubbed his hands together in a motion to warm them. “I hope they’re okay with who I am.” He looked down at his hends.

Shiro put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, making the younger man look at him. “I’m sure they will accept you. You’re a great guy.”

Keith looked away, as if he was shy. “Thanks.”

When Shiro retracted his hand he noticed that a thick white fog had surrounded the bus stop he was sitting at. The familiarity of it made him shudder. It was an exact replica of what he had seen in his dream. He was a little worried when a rumble from the distance sounded, was it the monster-car that killed Keith? No, this was real life. Nothing like that could happen right?

Contrary to Shiro’s initial belief, a bus rolled into the bus stop. However, Shiro instantly knew that it wasn’t any normal bus. It was a white bus with shiny windows. He couldn’t really see the driver, as it was obscured by a strange mesh. There was no number on the bus. The mere presence of the bus felt warm and comforting, like a gentle hug of a mother.

As soon as Keith saw the bus he stood up, grabbing his belongings.

“Your bus?” Shiro asked, standing as well.

“Yeah, that’s my bus.” Keith said, looking undeniably happy.

Keith took a step towards the bus and looked ready to climb on, but he looked back at Shiro. Shiro felt a sharp pang in his heart.

After this, no one would be at the bus stop.

Taking a step back towards Shiro, Keith reached out his hand in a handshake manner. “Thanks for keeping me company.”

Stunned, Shiro didn’t know what to say, but he lifted his hand and shook hands with Keith. “It was my pleasure.”

He sniffed the air. “You smell like flowers.”

“You have a strong nose.” Shiro said, repeating the same conversation they had when they started.

“You work at Altea’s Flowers right?” Keith asked, recalling what Shiro had said. “You should take me there sometime.”

Shiro had to stop himself from saying he couldn’t. “That sounds fine.”

The bus suddenly honked, startling the both of them. Realizing the bus was about to leave, Keith turned around and headed towards the entrance of the bus. He gave a small wave to Shiro.

“See you, Shiro.” He waved. Shiro waved back. Then he paused and looked at Shiro in the eyes.

“Thank you.” And he hopped in.

The bus doors closed and without waiting a single moment, it sped off into the fog. Shiro watched carefully as the bus rolled out of view. He stood for a long time, so long that the fog had dispersed and found himself standing at the bus stop alone.

Shiro looked at the bus stop bench and saw that the spot Keith had sat at was vacant. He tilted his head and stared for a long while as he took in the situation.

Feeling a painful emptiness, Shiro looked up at the dark night sky. He could vaguely feel something pooling in his tired eyes.

“Goodbye, Keith.” He said quietly. “Sleep well.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Points to those who guess right where I took the names 'Joshua Keyton' and 'Laura' from.
> 
> I actually might upload the next few chapters fairly soon, maybe in succession because I'm leaving for college soon and I want to have this finish and up before I go. Honestly, I'm not sure if anyone is reading this story anymore xD It's become kinda cheesy and I just feel like even though I had a good idea, me writing skills are really sub par so the story/storytelling turned out kinda meh xD
> 
> Oh well, thanks to those few who are sticking around. Only two chapters left!


	5. Re: Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this chapter folks :D I'm glad that the lot of you is sticking around :>   
> Thank you for the lovely comments last chapter <3 It makes writing all the worth while :D

                                                                                        

* * *

“We would like a bouquet of flowers for a grave.” 

Shiro perked up when he heard those words. When he turned to look at where the cash register was, he saw that there was a very old woman there, with a young boy bouncing next to her. He paused momentarily from the weeding out he was doing to some of the flowers in the flowerbed.

“We’re going to go visit my mama.” The boy said, looking up at Coran, who was at the register. The older man gave a gleeful smile.

“Doncha worry, young lad. We’ll whip up the best bouquet for your mother yet.” 

“Put lots of red flowers.” The boy continued. “Mama always liked the red ones the best.”

The older woman put a hand on the younger boy. “Now Tim, settle down. We wouldn’t want to trouble them.”

“Oh no, no, no! It won’t be trouble at all, madame!” Allura said, emerging from the storage room, her cheeks dirty from mud. “We’ll make a very pretty bouquet for your mother now. In fact, you can choose which flower to use!”

“Really!?” The boy said excitedly, wandering over to where Allura was standing.

“Of course!” She said, taking off her dirty glove and taking the young boy by the hand. “Follow me this way, we have some wonderful Sedum flowers this season!”

“Oh my, I’m terribly sorry for bothering you. I know you must be so busy taking care of all these flowers.” She apologized. “My grandson has always been so energetic at this time of day.”

“Never mind that, my lady. Allura always had a soft spot for grave flowers.” Coran said. “Just like her father.” He softly added, a gentle gleam in his eyes.

Shiro worked quietly as he overheard the conversation. Even though this wasn’t the first time someone had come to their shop requesting an arrangement of flowers for a grave, it was understandingly saddening to listen to. While some customers would leave as soon as they are given the bouquets, leaving behind a sorrowful silence, some customers would linger to tell their stories. 

Either way, arranging grave flowers had sad tales to tell.

It wasn’t long before Allura and the boy had collected enough flowers and she expertly made a beautiful arrangement, with lots of red flowers of course. Shiro watched, almost teary eyed as the boy took the bouquet carefully in his hands, as if it was the life of his dear old mama herself. As he looked excitedly at his grandparent, he accidently locked eyes with Shiro. The young boy’s eyes were glistening with energy, blissfully unaware of the sickening complexity and simplicity of life. The grandmother thanked them profusely before taking the hand of her grandchild and walking away. The boy turned around once more to wave good bye to them before walking out of view.

“It’s so sad to see young life whither so fast.” Allura commented, watching the boy go away. 

Coran sighed. “He’s a strong lad, he is.”

Shiro nodded to himself and focused on taking care of these seasons flowers.

It had been almost a year and a half since Keith had left the bus stop. 

At first he wasn’t quite sure that Keith was gone for good, but over time, Shiro realized that Keith never came back. The dreams seemed to disappear with Keith too. The ghost of the bus stop really was over.  Shiro had been depressed about it at first. He regretted so badly that he never got to know Keith before his accident. He wondered what kind of person Keith was when he was alive, what he liked to do in his spare time, or what his favorite food was. Shiro didn’t really like thinking about it too much, it made him unnecessarily depressed.

After a while, Shiro accepted Keith’s passing and went on in his life. His friends did not really question him about it. He was sure that Allura warned them that it was a sensitive subject. 

One time when he went to the bus stop, around the same time he had first met Keith, Shiro saw that there was an arrangement of flowers placed on the place where Keith had been sitting. No doubt it would have been Allura and the gang’s doing, but he had stopped to admire the flowers every time he came to the bus stop. The arrangement had no card attached or name, but Shiro knew exactly who it was for.

It was a simple arrangement, mostly consisting of white flowers and a circle of dark ivy holding the entire piece together. The blanket of white kind of reminded Shiro if the white snow from the dream he had borrowed from Keith, which memories he had held desperately on to after his passing. A couple of yellow flowers dotted the arrangement, as if it was a silent echo of Keith’s youthful demise. In the center of the arrangement there was a triad of Zinnia flowers, a flower Shiro knew that meant ‘thought of absent friends’. In the center of the triad of Zinnias, there was a single fragile Lavender Flower. 

_ Love at first sight.  _ Shiro said in his heart, remembering what Allura had told him about arrangement making. 

Perhaps it was true.

His heart ached. 

The flower arrangement continued to stay there, well maintained, and watered until it eventually withered away and one day, the dying arrangement just disappeared. 

Just like Keith did.

Life continued on as normal and Lance, Pidge, & Hunk had all graduated from college and were now working at different places. 

Lance had found a job as an Event Organizer. He seemed pretty good at the job and was frequently asked to arrange parties of the sort; sometimes even asked to go overseas. Lance was good with people and was a fun-loving person, so it really suited him. Shiro was sure that he was having fun at his job, just like he had wanted to.

Hunk was now working at a high-class Hotel in a closeby town as a chef. Since he now worked so far away, Shiro didn’t see him often, but he frequently texted them back saying that he was doing well. Apparently a lot of people loved his meals. Sometimes the whole gang would take a vacation to where Hunk worked at, just to have some fun.

Pidge had went to work as an intern at the local Research and Engineering firm, dedicated to creating innovative material to help improve the lives of others. She decided to pursue a higher means of education, while being an intern, hoping to find a way to improve lives of others. It also appeared she had adopted a shelter dog named Rover, who Shiro had often seen walking about the area flashing his new collar.

With the three of them gone, it was just Shiro, Allura, and Coran left at Altea’s Flowers. It had gotten much quieter without any of them around and Shiro honestly felt a little lonely, but the three often visited sometimes so it wasn’t as lonely as he had initially thought. Besides, they were having fun. They were still young. He wondered if Keith would have been doing something interesting like them now. Shiro bet that perhaps Keith would have liked working at the Garrison.

Even Zarkon seemed to be busying himself being the king of his aquarium and investigating his new companion, Haggar. Seeing that Zarkon looked a bit lonely, Coran had purchased another snapping turtle to be Zarkon’s companion. The newcomer turtle was considerably smaller, but had a strange array patterns on it’s back that Allura could only describe as ‘haggard’. Sure enough, this turtle had a personality to match and even snapped at Zarkon itself. As a result, the turtle was named Haggar and Coran was very very sure that Haggar was a female. She bit Shiro once during feeding time, but thankfully it was his metal prosthetic. 

Shiro himself had turned a new leaf. He moved from his apartment far away and moved into the same neighborhood Josh Keyton lived. It was much closer to Altea’s Flowers, which he had now decided to work his very hardest on. The neighbors were extremely excited to have him in his neighborhood and the kids loved to admire how strong he is. He felt very welcomed in this community; it felt like he had new big family.

Life had become very simple, very fulfilling in a way.

It was almost as if meeting Keith had changed his view in the world.  Keith was someone who didn’t even have a chance to survive. On it’s own, comparing his own accident to Keith’s, Shiro learn to value the idea that he  _ did  _ survive. There was a large chance he could have died from his own accident and learned to treasure the simplicity of life. Life was extremely fragile, he had known this watching flowers bloom and wither, but it gave him a whole new meaning after Keith left.

He was satisfied with how the story ended, and was content to do this for the rest of his life.

However, something was missing.

Life was almost perfect, but often times Shiro found himself thinking about how things could have been if Keith was alive and they had met on a normal occasions. Perhaps, they would’ve become really good friends, or maybe even more. There wasn’t much to say. That short time together was more memorable than his entire experience at the Garrison. He himself was surprised of the impact Keith had on him.

But, wouldn’t he be glad to know that wasn’t the end yet to his story.

* * *

 

**-~*~-**

* * *

 

One day, Shiro was on a morning jog around the block. It was always important to stretch out the muscles before one started the day. He had started doing this when he moved closer to where Altea’s Flowers was. Since he didn’t have to wake up early to catch the bus, he had more time to relax in the mornings.

This particular morning he decided to take the long scenic route, one that would go right past the bus stop he used to commute to; just for old time’s sake. Besides, it was about the same time that year where Keith used to be. Even though Shiro had pretended not to notice, Allura had been arranging another patch of flowers to undoubtedly put at the bus stop again. He would like to look what she had to offer this year. They always happen to be the most prettiest arrangements she made.

He had been enjoying his run, as he always has when he noticed someone standing at the bus stop, looking at what Shiro could make out to be another arrangements. At first he wondered if it was someone lost, but once he had gotten close enough in proximity, Shiro stopped in his tracks.

He was dumbfounded. 

After hearing him approaching, the person turned to look at him and he had an equally shocked expression. They held the gazes for a long time.

“K-Keith?” he sputtered, his voice almost intelligible.

No, it couldn’t be. Keith was dead right? It had to be a different person who just looked like him, but this Keith look-a-like merely stared at Shiro like he was a deer in the headlights.

Trying to process his shock, Shiro analyzed who he was looking at. This person did have an uncanny look to Keith, but he looked much older, taller too, than the Keith he knew. More so his hair was much longer. He wasn’t wearing the same clothing Keith was wearing too. 

This wasn’t Keith.

Knowing that the person was confused, Shiro tried to apologize. 

“Oh sorry, you just reminded me of someone I used to know-”

“How do you know my name?” The Keith look-a-like asked.

“Your name is Keith?” Shiro couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was he dreaming? His heart starting beating like crazy, like he was on a roller coaster.

“Yeah, my name is Keith. Just Keith, I don’t have a last name.” confirmed ‘Keith’. Then he peered closer at Shiro. “You look familiar, have we met before?”

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Shiro shakily shook his head, still confused. “No, I believe we haven’t.”

“Weird.” muttered ‘Keith’ under his breath. “I feel like I’ve seen you in a dream somewhere.”

No, it couldn’t be.

“Um, excuse me, Keith.” Shiro started. “Can I ask you what you’re doing here? I mean you looked a little confused here.”

Keith blinked blankly at him and Shiro wondered if he had come off weird, but he looked back at the arrangement of flowers seated comfortably on the bus stop seat. “I’m not too sure.”

He thought for a moment, looking a bit apprehensive.

“I just felt like coming here.” he clarified. “I’ve just woken up from a coma which was caused by an accident here a long time ago. Ever since I’ve woken up, I felt like coming back here.” Keith rubbed the side of his head. “It felt like someone was waiting for me here.”

Shiro gaped.

Was Keith really the Keith  _ he  _ knew? Were the memories real after all? Too many things synced up, it was like history was repeating right before his very eyes. Except this time, Shiro was sure that this person was a real life person, not a ghost.

“A coma?” repeated Shiro, still unbelieving.

For some reason, all the pieces seemed to line up. All this time he had believed that Keith had died in the accident, but now it made sense. The article didn’t mention anything about Keith dying, he just assumed that Keith had died because of the ‘ghost’. It also made sense why the ghosts of the other two victims didn’t materialize either.

Keith was alive, he was just in a coma. It wasn’t a ghost he talked to; more like Keith’s consciousness?

It wasn’t really a ghost was it?

It all made sense.

It made Shiro laugh.

_ His memories were  _ **_real_ ** _. _

Shiro knew that his laughter confused Keith, but he just laughed out of the sheer oddity of the situation. All this time, he was plagued by the idea that it was just a dream, a delusion. Perhaps Keith at the bus stop wasn't real after all. He feared that it was true, but it wasn't. It wasn't. 

“Are you alright?” Keith asked, bewildered.

“I’m sorry, I just remembered something funny.” answered Shiro, feeling almost euphoric. Keith tilted his head, a little confused, but looked like he understood. Shiro reached out his hand in a handshake. “My name is Takashi Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro.”

Keith took Shiro’s hand and looked dumbly at his prosthetic limb. He blinked again and again, still looking confused, but shook his head. “Are you sure we haven’t met before?”

“Maybe in a dream?” joked Shiro. 

Keith didn’t really get it though, but he gave a small chuckle. It was like Keith's heart knew the joke.  Taking a deep breath, Keith’s eyes widened.

“You smell like flowers.” He commented, sniffing. He glanced at the arrangement beside him. “Not like these...different.”

“You have a sharp nose, buddy.” agreed Shiro. “I work at a flower shop, the same one that made those ones on the bench. We grow special types of flowers, you can't find them anywhere else.” Then Shiro paused. “Do you want to come over? We’re about to open soon.”

Shiro reached out his hand, gesturing to have Keith hold his hands so he could take them there.

Keith looked back at the bus stop and back at Shiro, obviously still a little confounded by the situation, but after looking deep into Shiro’s eyes, he then nodded his head.

“Sure.”

And Keith took his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you might be like "Huhhh? Keith is alive!??"  
> And some of you already guessed the twist before I even posted this chapter. I'm looking at you, one lone commenter last chapter. How did you figure it out? Was it that obvious? XD Kudos to you, my friend, good prediction.
> 
> For those of you confused and perhaps feeling a little cheated that I took the cheesy route and brought Keith back to life, let me explain:
> 
> From the beginning, I never said Keith died. If you look carefully at previous chapters, the idea that Keith was dead was just an assumption made by Shiro's part. The article of the accident never stated that Keith had passed away, only that he (along with Laura) were taken to the hospital for undisclosed injuries. After Keith was taken to the other hospital, Josh said that Keith was never heard from again, which was a big hint to the idea that Keith never really died at all. Additionally, isn't it strange that Keith had a ghost, but Laura and the driver that passed didn't have a ghost? It's because they were really dead and Keith was alive.
> 
> Then you might ask, what is the Keith at the bus stop? Well, you might say his consciousness?   
> Keith was about to go through a life-changing situation. He was going to meet his parents, whom he has not seen his entire life and he is reasonably excited/nervous to meet them, but the accident happened. I guess through sheer will Keith stayed alive, but the anticipation of it, he just forgot until Shiro came to remind him. Why did his consciousness materialize? Well, I guess it's the supernatural powers of fate? :P
> 
> All that's left of this story is the last chapter, which is a very special epilogue told from the point of view of a certain character. 
> 
> Thanks for sticking around for the entirety of the story, folks, I really appreciate all the Kudos and Comments you guys had to offer. It really means a lot to me, especially since I put a significant amount effort into this story.


	6. Re: Install (Epilogue)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the last chapter of this little tale. A little extra story, just to make sure things end up nicely :3
> 
> Thank you all for sticking around for the entire story. Also thanks again to my wonderful betas: Candy (kumihomiko), Pix (pixothepixel) and Alphie (AlphaToronado), all of whom can be found on tumblr, so be sure to check them out! This story couldn't be as good as it is without them :>
> 
> Btw, I uploaded this chapter in succession even though I uploaded yesterday because I'm going to move overseas to college tomorrow! So I won't have time to upload it, so why not a back-to-back chapter? 8D

Keith finished bringing the boxes into his room. It had taken a lot work to move into this  house. He still had trouble using his arms and legs properly. Sometimes they would go limp or numb at weird given moments; probably a side effect from being asleep for almost three years. 

He had undergone intensive therapy after he had miraculously woken up from his coma after almost three years. His parents had lost hope that he would ever wake up and had almost considered to pull the plug on his life support, but they held out long enough. All in all, Keith was glad that their hopes for him lasted that long. After all, he had never met his parents once before the accident, so the lengths they went to keep him alive even after it had been pronounced almost impossible for him to wake up were astounding. Keith really felt loved by them and even though he didn’t grow up with them, Keith loved them too. He was the parents he thought he’d never have.

Feeling a little fatigued, Keith laid down on the bed that was provided for him. It felt much more comfortable than the hospital beds that he had slept for so long on. 

Even though he was glad that he had woken up, he found his awakening to be rather strange. 

For the longest time, Keith felt like he had been trapped in this sort of weird dream limbo. For some reason he was waiting for what felt like a long time. At the time, he had forgotten who he really was, where he came from, what he was going to do. It was torture, Keith just couldn’t remember what he had to do, but it was important. The only think Keith knew at the time was that the bus he was desperately waiting for would come for him someday. Sometimes the dream would go blank and he would find himself in endless freezing darkness. 

It was cold...very cold.

Even now, Keith found himself hating the cold. He liked to sit near the heater or fireplaces. The cold reminded him of his endless nightmares. Keith felt an affinity with warm glow of fire, he really did like it’s hot crackling sparks way better than the icy freeze.

Maybe once during the dream, he found himself talking to someone.

He had really enjoyed talking to this person. It felt warm. He thought about this person all the time. In the freezing cold, this person was the only warmth he had. Every interaction was like a spark of heat, which startled him. It had been so long since Keith felt anything warm, he just wanted to cling to it forever.

A short time after he started talking to this person in his dreams, he was suddenly reminded of everything. His bust arrived, he assumed, and suddenly he had the surge of energy to wake up.

Keith awoke to the scent of flowers and found himself in a very cold hospital room.

At first he was extremely weak due to being in a vegetative state for a long time, but over time, through many hours of close supervision and therapy, Keith finally regained the strength to walk and regain the ability to be self sufficient. It had taken almost a full year for him to regain all the things he could do before the accident, and then some.

Ever since he had opened his eyes, Keith felt a calling, asking him to return to the bus stop to whence he had the accident. He wasn’t sure why, but it was like someone was telling him that someone missed him and was waiting for him there. Keith knew that he was looking for the warm person in his dreams. Although it wasn’t as strong at first, as time passed, the call got stronger and stronger, almost unbearable. 

After spending time with his parents, who were overjoyed of having their son back, Keith requested that he wanted to go back to the town where he had the accident. Although they were skeptical about letting him go, they seemed lenient of allowing him go. Keith knew that they were still sort of uncomfortable of having a stranger son. 

So about another year after he had regained his strength, he visited the town of Terrawood again.

And that’s when he met Shiro.

Despite being sure that it was the first time Keith had ever met Shiro, Keith instantly recognized who it was, even though he had trouble placing a name on the face. The meeting had been strange, as Shiro knew who his name was and even though Shiro was technically a stranger, Keith knew that it was okay to trust him. It was like his heart was telling him that Shiro was the one he had been looking for all this time. He wanted to be with him, it felt nice and warm. Like the fire he had grown to love so much.

Was he the warm person who saved him?

“Hey Keith, how are you settling in?” A voice asked, breaking his thoughts. Keith looked up to see Shiro poking his head through the door. “Do you need any help?”

“No, I’m fine.” replied Keith, standing up to face him. “I don’t have a lot of stuff anyway.”

“Lunch is ready by the way.” smiled Shiro. “You hungry?”

“A little.” To be honest not at all, but he knew that he had to eat something. 

Keith followed Shiro out of the room and to the dining table, where two plates of what looked like meatloaf and some vegetables. It looked delicious. Giving Shiro a smile of appreciation, Keith took a sit at one of the plates and Shiro sat on the other side.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Doing fine.” answered Keith curtly. “Thanks.”

Feeling satisfied, Shiro turned to focus on his own food. He already knew that Keith was not a man of many words.

Keith wasn’t sure how Shiro found out about his preference of being silent and alone, but he assumed it had to do with this strange attractiveness he had towards Shiro. Just a few moments after he met, it seemed like Shiro knew all about him, what he didn’t like and what he liked. It was extremely strange, kinda creepy, but Keith wasn’t all to bothered by it. Besides, he loved Shiro’s company and warmth. He was one of the few exceptions that he didn’t mind being around when he was alone. In fact, he rather be alone with Shiro than be alone by himself.

After befriending Shiro over the course of a few months, Keith decided that he wanted to live here in Terrawood. He felt bad for living off his parents too and wanted to find work. Granted, it was harder since he had missed out on going to college and he wasn’t exactly comfortable trying to find a college that would accept him. Plus, Keith didn’t want to burden his parents with tuition fees, especially since they had paid the expensive hospital fees for many years.

When he had mentioned it to Shiro, he immediately asked if Keith would like to live with him, since he had an extra room in his house that he didn’t use when Shiro had first moved in.

Although they had known each other a short while, Keith completely trusted him, so he accepted.

After another month of nonsense, of Shiro going to visit his parents and telling them who he is and getting stuff ready, Keith finally made the final move today.

He had met some of Shiro’s friends, all of whom were very accepting to him. Except Lance...kinda, Keith didn’t particularly find him particularly to his liking. Almost immediately, Lance had found something to make a fuss about him about, which Shiro and Allura quickly quieted down. However sometimes Lance was friendly. Keith liked Hunk’s cooking too, it was delicious. He also liked playing with Pidge’s dog, Rover.

After the introduction into this unqiue circle of friends, Keith was introduced to Altea’s Flowers, where Shiro worked and Allura, the owner of the shop, offered to allow Keith to work there. Although Keith had told them he had no gardening skills, the other florist, Coran, assured him that he could learn. Even though Shiro didn’t say anything about having a hand in it, Keith knew that his job acceptance had Shiro’s influence, but he was grateful for all the help Shiro gave him.

“The food is good.” Keith told Shiro, who looked happy to be complemented.

“I’m glad you like it.” he responded. “Try to finish the food this time, okay? Your parents will be worried.”

Keith swallowed his food, nodding. His appetite had been kinda on and off since his awakening and had been prone to not eating at all to eating as much food as possible. It has something to do with his metabolism being unstable.

Finishing up their food, Shiro took the dishes and put them in the sink to be washed later and Keith went to the living room. The sun filtered through the glass doors that led to the small yard, creating this mystical dance of shadows and light. It mesmerized Keith, as he really clutched and unclutched his fist, trying to make sure that everything was real. 

Before this, he was an ‘orphan’ right? Keith was one by mistake, all this time his parents really loved him. They didn’t abandon him like everyone said. It was like after the accident, everything did a 180 degree turn. All of a sudden, he was wanted, not only by his parents, but by Shiro as well. It was too good to be true, honestly.

It felt very warm, too comfortable. Keith liked it, but he was at the same time afraid that the cold would come capture him in his sleep again.

He wanted to make sense of his predicament. He still felt like everything was a good dream. Maybe he had died in a coma and this was his afterlife? Living a simple life with a gentle warm guy like Shiro?

All of a sudden, Shiro appeared by his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. Even though Shiro’s metal arm was sort of cold, Keith could feel the warmth wafting from it. 

“You okay, buddy?” Shiro asked worriedly.

No, this real. It definitely was.

Keith lifted his own hand and put it on Shiro’s prosthetic hand. It felt warm.

Then he looked at Shiro and gave him a big ol’ grin.

“Never better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short chapter to tie things up.  
> Still a little unclear whether or not Keith made the connection that he met Shiro in the bus stop, but is that another story to tell? :P
> 
> You can close the tab now, but I'm just going to talk about some Trivia for things that didn't make it into this story. It's not terribly important, but it's what this story could have been! Or just some extra know-things :>  
> \- Keith was originally planned to really have died in the story. I did a bait-and-switch coma thing because my betas were highly against death (in most of my fics anyway, but I still tricked them xD). Also I do love Keith and I felt kinda bad... (for both Shiro and Keith).  
> \- The story was supposed to be focused more on Shiro and the sadness from the lost of an arm and getting through it with it with Keith's help, but due to my lack of inexperience (in writing) to recreate such intense feelings in the form of words, I decided to make it more focused on something more interesting.  
> \- Shiro, along with Lance/Hunk/Pidge were supposed to visit Keith's abandoned home to find his Diary that he had left behind in his home town and that was originally the way Shiro was going to find out about Keith's past. At that time when I was writing it, the story was way different (frankly too boring to explain). Later it was changed to the introduction of Laura Wilson and Joshua Keyton as characters.  
> \- Joshua Keyton, Laura Wilson, and the young boy named Tim were all names I borrowed from the Staff of the Voltron Crew. Joshua Keyton is Josh Keaton, Shiro's Voice Actor. Laura's name was borrowed from Lauren Montogermy, Executive Producer and Coshow-runner on Voltron. Lastly, Tim was just a one-time borrow from Tim Hedrick 8D  
> \- The reason for the point above is that I genuinely dislike having to create Original Characters for stories. I find it just, difficult. I also don't want to take the spotlight from the focus of the story, which is Shiro and Keith. This is the main reason why the receptionist at the For Me Organization and the Wedding Representative from Chapter 4 (as well as customers who go to Altea's Flowers) do not have names. I had to give Laura/Josh a name because it was just too difficult to write them without names. Using staff names make me feel a little better (and in no way was I using their names as my personal interpretation of what staff are really like irl). Anyways, I hope they weren't too annoying as characters.  
> \- Haggar was supposed to appear in the beginning of the story along with Snapping Turtle Zarkon as a Venus Fly trap. Don't know why, but it was originally like that. I just suddenly decided to introduce Haggar as another turtle in the end xD
> 
> A small note, this story was never based off the Anime Erased, rather it was based on the opening of the anime, Re: Re: and by the cover done by NateWantsToBattle. This was an idea that just popped into my head, but I had so much trouble writing it. Only when I started obsessively listening to NateWantsToBattle's cover did I come up with a story. So I apologize to anyone who thought it was an Erased (Anime) AU ^^"
> 
> So that's all folks for this series. It has been such a long time since I completed a multichapter story (I've been writing oneshots for forever) so I'm glad this went through and didn't collapse on the way to be finished. Again, I thank everyone who stuck with this story and I'm genuinely happy to see that people have enjoyed this story. I've read all your comments (though I haven't had enough time to answer them all) and I appreciate every one Kudos or Bookmark.  
> I hope that you'd check out my other works, I do write a little more Sheith and also some other content.
> 
> Or maybe I should write a mini-chapter in this AU? Who knows 8D

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter will be uploaded in the next few days.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
